A friend, Gary Paine, whom I know through the Seattle Folklore Society, has written a new verse to the Beatles song "Let It Be" (which Paul McCartney wrote for his mother, Mary, while he was still a teenager). Gary dedicated the new verse to Barack Obama and to the pursuit of peace, and he has posted an audio of the modified "Let It Be" song on You Tube.

I asked Gary if he'd like to post the YouTube link here at Mudcat, and this [in part] was his reply (by email):

" I would be honored to have the lyrics and a pointer to my youtube thingie posted on mudcat. Can you do this? Or is this something I need to do? You have my blessing to do it.

... I sing in a choir and Beth (an alto in my choir) is singing the song with me. Rob, my guitar teacher, is playing the guitar and helped me put the whole thing together and get it to youtube.

That is me near the end flashing the peace sign, and Chardell [my wife] is the lone figure near the start when we start singing. The whole thing is in wonderful focus in Rob's original (mountains and my peace sign are in focus).

But it was 2 MB in size and we had to squeeze it down to 1 MB to put it on youtube. So we kept audio quality and sacrificed video quality.

I remember you had many songs I liked at Mary's Sunny Camp several years ago. I actually browsed on Mudcat several years ago - I used the alias Woody (I like Woody Guthrie).

But I haven't been back for several years. I have information overload from too much internet info, but I remember I liked browsing down the threads and hearing from "folkies" all over the world.

...

Gary"

I hope Gary ("Woody") will check in here again. Meanwhile, here is the link to the Youtube:"Let It Be" with new verse dedicated to Barack Obama.

Hi Genie, Thank you for doing this. I do not have an mp3 of this. I have plans to do it again using the whole song and a more spectacular sunset ... hold your breath. I loved Paul McCartney's message in the original song "If you can't fix it, let it be". But I think there are times in life when you need to stand up and try and fix things, so I added words many years ago: Make me brave, make me strong, let me help this world along. I will be an answer, let it be. I am inspired by Obama and his message of change ... it fits McCartney's lyrics and my additional words. So I made this video last summer. (It is taken from Golden Gardens in Seattle of a sunset over the Olympics, put in reverse order to look like a sunrise). I like the metaphor of going from darkness to the sunrise of a new day. I am pleased with the way this came out, and with the fact that everyone got elected. Thank you again, Genie ... I am not much of a techie with mudcat, yet. Gary

Hi again Genie (and old hippie), "Let It Be" has been my favorite song for almost 40 years ... I want to add a clarification. Paul McCartney did not write this when he was a teenager. His Mother Mary died when he was a teenager. He didn't write this until right before the Beatles broke up. I think (but I am not 100% sure) that he was distraught over the Beatles breaking up. Anyway, he was distraught over something, and his Mother Mary came to him in a dream and said "Paul, you can't fix it, let it be." The Beatles recorded the album "Let It Be" in 1970 and then they promptly broke up, so this is their last big hit together. I somehow heard this story when I first heard the song. I added a few words a couple years later and have been singing this song with my added words for over 30 years. Gary

I really wish people would be honest about stuff like that. If they want us to see Obama advertising, let them say, "Come look at this Great Obama advertising", not "Come see my new verse that I dedicated to Obama". )-:

Unfortunately, I'm cursed with a fairly good grasp of lyrics, and I can't help recognising that not only is the introduction somewhat iffy, but this alternative verse is not about consolation when things can't be changed, rather it's a self-gratifying announcement that the singer will take action where things can be changed. Nothing wrong with taking such action; but the virtue is in doing so, not in saying so.

I wonder if such a change to the song will generally be considered an improvement.

Thanks for posting about your additional chorus, Gary. (It actually is an added chorus, not a new "verse.")

We're all entitled to our opinions, of course, but I hope you won't be discouraged from posting here, or from doing your version of "Let It Be" because there are those who think it's a sacrilege to "tinker" with a song someone else wrote. (We wouldn't have most of Woody Guthrie's songs if everyone viewed music and poetry that way. And the copyright-protection issue is relevant from a legal standpoint, especially if one is using a non-PD song commercially, but I'm not sure it's relevant from an ethical standpoint.)

As for the idea that this new chorus is somehow a political commercial, I say pbbllffft!

Misha, I am the one who wanted to share Gary's chorus via Mudcat, not Gary (and certainly not Barack Obama). I asked Gary for permission to do that. : )

But a major part of Obama's campaign has been an echo of Ghandi's charge that we must "be the change [we] seek." With that in mind, I like the idea of singing the added chorus this way: Make us brave, make us strong, Let us help this world along. We can be an answer: Let it be.

The very fact that this verse puts a different frame around the phrase "Let It Be" is what I like about it. "Let it be" can mean "Leave it alone" ("Don't interfere"), "Allow it to happen," etc. It can also be a wish or a prayer, as in "Let There Be Peace On Earth (And Let It Begin With Me)." (I think your intro to the new chorus alluded to the two different senses of the phrase, Gary.)

Anyway, I don't find this new chorus at all incompatible with Paul McCartney's verses: "And when the broken hearted people living in the world agree, There will be an answer - let it be. And tho' they may be parted, there is still a chance that they will see. There will be an answer - let it be."

While I do hear in McCartney's lyrics the message of "acceptance" of what we cannot change, I do not hear an admonition to remain a passive observer.

Anyway, the meaning of lyrics is in the mind of the beholder as much as in that of the lyricist.

Paul McCartney's Mother Mary died when he was 14. Ten years later he was upset about something. She came to him in a dream and told him: "Paul, you can't fix it …let it be". He wrote the song Let It Be about that dream. (No, Mother Mary is not a biblical reference). A few years later, the Beatles recorded the album Let It Be. They promptly broke up, so this was one of their last hits together.

I have always loved the message in this song: "let it be". I also like the Serenity Prayer: "Oh Lord, give me the patience to accept the things I cannot change, the courage to change the things I can, and the wisdom to know the difference." McCartney's song has patience and wisdom in it. There are times in life when you also need some courage to try and change things. So I added a chorus many years ago: "Make me brave, make me strong, let me help this world along, I will be an answer, let it be." Last spring, I heard Obama speak. I was inspired by his message of change. "He's singing my favorite song!" So I made this youtube video (2 minutes). I like the metaphor of sunrise turning darkness into a new day.

Genie posted a thread about this, and it got some potshots about my motives. I have decided to post a new thread.

I think mankind has gone off the cliff and is plummeting into the abyss. Dark issues are raining down all around us: overpopulation, global warming, peak oil, 401K's becoming 201K's, jobs going to Asia, mortgages failing, banks failing … and on and on. It is time to stop snarling at each other and help find ways to stop the plummeting.